A world as it should be

May 24, 2011

NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.

After decades of accepting the world as it is …, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.
— President Obama (speaking about the Middle East, 5/19/11)

 

Image RemovedPresident Obama –

We want a world as it should be: a world where people quit fouling their own nest, where money isn’t the only object, a world where people consider the planet we are leaving to our children.

In the past few months, your executive order has indefinitely rescinded EPA limits on emissions from industrial boilers which power oil refineries, chemical plants and other factories. You have slow-tracked new rules on storing toxic coal ash. (source)

We want a world as it should be: where government protects the health of the people from powerful corporate interests, where government takes action to protect the environment and to slow global warming.

Right now, we have a chance to pursue the solutions to global warming. In another presidential election or two, that will no longer be an option — your inaction today will have doomed humanity.

Right now, we have a chance to prepare the American people for the realities of our future: a life with far less fossil fuels available worldwide. With your own Department of Energy’s EIA admitting peak oil is here in 2012 (1), this issue goes far beyond “getting off foreign oil.” It means getting off ALL oil. We want a government as it should be: one which is truthful with the people that this ultimately means powerdown — decreasing the amount of energy we use overall.

Image RemovedWe want a government which leads the way in reorienting our infrastructure for a post-petroleum lifestyle. We have a chance to pursue the world as it should be, where people turn to cleaner solutions instead of filthy coal. A nuclear-free world where Fukushima can never happen again.

We want a world as it should be, where the economy works within the carrying capacity of the planet. Rather than trying to “grow” an economy that already operates at an outrageous FIVE TIMES our fair share of world goods, we have a chance to pursue an economy which is redesigining itself to live within humanity’s means.

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We want a democracy as it should be: a government which says No to the Big Corporate raping and pillaging that is taking humanity so far off course.

We want a world as it should be, where we think about what we are leaving to our children. Look Sasha and Malia in the eyes and tell them you stymied and dismantled efforts to slow global warming and make a better world. See what your ultimate political advisors have to say.

 

Sincerely,

Joanne Poyourow

Transition Los Angeles

Joanne Poyourow

Joanne Poyourow is the co-founder of the Environmental Change-Makers in Los Angeles.  In their 10 years of operations the Change-Makers have done many things including building two community gardens, and initiating Transition ideas in many areas of Southern California.

Tags: Building Community, Culture & Behavior, Politics